How I’m Spending My Bitcoin Summer

I hope everyone's enjoying their summer. This summer’s been generous to me, yielding gifts of cheap bitcoin everyday. Each morning I wake up to make a daily buy that’s 40% greater than my usual daily buy because the price is so ridiculously cheap at the moment. And, I still have a few extra bucks to spend on summer fun.

The bitcoin community locally and abroad is stronger than ever. I’ve been attending local bitcoin meetups where experienced bitcoin developers explain to newer not so technical crypto curious types how the network validates transactions with kitty stickers and other props from the local craft store. You can see a YouTube example here starting at about 12:59.

In broader news, the point of my last blog Bitcoin Basic The Importance of Self-Custody was driven home by lawyers for the bankrupt crypto lender, Celsius, who reaffirmed that user funds essentially belonged to the company and not the user. Attorney David Silver weighed in with a very enlightening Twitter thread on the subject, which should be regarded as a cautionary tale and strong evidence that self-custody is an essential requirement for crypto investors. He reiterated the position that Celsius takes which comes down to “users should stop thinking of it as *your* crypto” because it technically all belongs to the firm.” He also tees up the fight that the Celsius users are gearing up for…stay tuned!

My analogy is that it's similar to buying a new house that, over time, will appreciate in value. Then you decide to rent the house for a short period of time and the renter tells you that you gave up your rights to the house by allowing them to rent it. In my opinion, long term, this kind of behavior will have a positive impact, cleaning out a lot of garbage in the blockchain space, inspire more people to learn self custody, and result in bitcoin’s paving the way for better stable projects and innovation.

Also this week, Tesla announced that it sold 75% of its bitcoin holdings. Amounting to $936 million in cash on their balance sheet. (I need to say thanks to Elon for the cheap satoshis!) No doubt this selloff was coupled with the very public DeFi blow ups that have allowed the ever growing field of small players like myself to continue to add to their position. Even though big players like Tesla are being forced to sell because they need the cash, the bitcoin community is stronger than ever according to my favorite macro investment strategist Lyn Alden.

Finally, big bucks are being spent on ad campaigns in order to raise the profile of crypto to the relatively untapped, mainstream, upscale market. FTX bought forward-placement, two page spreads in the summer issues of American Vogue, GQ, Vanity Fair, the New Yorker, and all international Vogue editions. The ads feature Gisele Bündchen and FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried.

I’m a bit more familiar with Gisele’s spouse, pro quarterback Tom Brady. (Tom’s mentor was my college head football coach, the late great offensive genius Tom Martinez.) Back to Gisele: she’s a major influencer outside of NFL fans like myself. From my perspective, this shows real financial commitment in targeting an audience that is far more sophisticated and influential than your stereotypical crypto boys. As someone who used to sell magazine advertising in my previous life, I can tell you this kind of ad buy would make my year.

Enjoy the dog days of summer. I am hitting the monthly bitcoin developer meetup in San Francisco next week where the latest developments are discussed in detail with 30+ developers who wear hats that say things like “Don’t Trust Verify”.

Cheers,

Jim